Transcript The Cold War - Reading Community Schools

THE COLD WAR
Q.O.D. #23 3/11/10

What post-war issues caused the Western Allies
and the Soviet Union to disagree?
Q.O.D. #23 3/11/10

What post-war issues caused the Western Allies
and the Soviet Union to disagree?
 Terms
of the Yalta Conference and Potsdam
Conference
 Differences
 Reparations
among Big Three
in Germany
 USSR
received less then they wanted and agreed to at
Yalta; according to Potsdam Conference, each country
could only collect reparations from their occupation zone
 Governments
 With
of Eastern Europe
assistance of USSR, communist parties in Europe
gained power
THE COLD WAR

State of tension and hostility between nations
aligned with the United States on one side and
the Soviet Union on the other, without armed
conflict between the major rivals
 Political
hostility
 Military tension
 Economic competition
 “Fought” through other means:
 Propaganda,
nuclear arms race,
BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT…

Stalin:
 Wanted
to spread communism
 Create a buffer zone of friendly governments
between USSR and Germany
 Tried to persuade West to accept Soviet influence in
Eastern Europe

Churchill and Roosevelt:
 Made
Stalin promise “free elections”
 Broken
pledge



Most Eastern
governments had
communist parties
With the backing of
the USSR, Eastern
communists
defeated rival
parties
By 1948 Eastern
Europe had mostly
pro-Soviet
governments in
place
“IRON CURTAIN” SPEECH 3/5/1946



Winston Churchill, March 5, 1946
 introduced the phrase "Iron Curtain" to describe the division
between Western powers and the area controlled by the Soviet
Union. As such the speech marks the onset of the Cold War
“The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a
solemn moment for the American democracy. For with this primacy in power
is also joined an awe-inspiring accountability to the future. … Opportunity is
here now, clear and shining, for both our countries. To reject it or ignore it or
fritter it away will bring upon us all the long reproaches of the aftertime.”
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has
descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals
of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague,
Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities
and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere,
and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but
to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from
Moscow.”
TRUMAN DOCTRINE
1.
Civil War in Greece.
2.
Turkey under pressure from the USSR for concessions in the
Dardanelles.
3.
“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to
support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”
President Truman
4.
Truman Doctrine: containment, limiting communism to areas
already under Soviet control.
5.
Established that the Americans would resist Soviet expansion
6.
The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey $400 million in aid.
MARSHALL PLAN

Marshall Plan: massive aid package offered by
the United States to strengthen democratic
governments (named for Secretary of State
George Marshall)
 U.S.
gave food and economic aid to Europe to help
countries rebuild after World War 2

Truman offered aid to USSR and its satellites
 Stalin
declined and forbade Eastern European
countries from accepting American aid
DIVISION OF GERMANY




Germany was divided into four zones of occupation to be
governed by the U.S., Britain, France and the USSR.
The capital city of Berlin would be divided into four zones as
well, even though it was located completely inside the Soviet
zone of occupation
USSR: took reparations from their zone by dismantling factories
and moving supplies into the USSR to rebuild itself
 Installed socialist dictatorship in East Germany
Western Allies: wanted economy to recover, combined zones
into one and offered Marshall Plan to West Germany
 Allowed the people to regain self-government and write their
own constitution
BERLIN AIRLIFT
Stalin resented the actions of the West
 June 1948: Stalin tried to force the Western
democracies out of Berlin
 Sealed off every roadway and railroad into the
Western sections of Berlin.
 West replied with a massive airlift of supplies

 Round-the-clock
cargo plane shipments of food and
fuel
 Over 200,000 flights over nearly a year
OPERATION LITTLE VITTLES





An American soldier was talking to children watching planes at the
airport
He gave them two pieces of gum and said if they were good he’d
bring more the next day.
He dropped candy bars with a handkerchief parachute from his
plane, and continued to do it.
Word spread – people sent in parachutes and candy and the major
candy companies donated as well
Successful propaganda campaign
BERLIN AIRLIFT
Airlift was a success
 Soviets lifted the blockade

NATO– NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION



The western states were increasingly suspicious of the
Russian intentions in Europe since the Berlin Blockade.
The United States also wanted to find allies in Europe to
contain communist expansion.
On April 4, 1949, twelve nations - the United States,
Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Italy,
Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and
Luxembourg signed the North Atlantic Treaty in
Washington.
The partners of the Treaty believed that Russian
Communism, an anti-democratic ideology, had posed a
new threat to the democratic world. Thus they stated
that "an armed attack against one or more of them shall
be considered an attack against them all.
NATO– NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION



The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was an
essential defensive organization against Communist
aggression and a successful step towards European and
trans-Atlantic co-operation.
The United States had committed herself to a military
alliance in peace time for the first time in its history.
From 1949 onwards, a large number of American troops
were stationed in western Europe. For the next 20 years,
her allies could call for American military assistance.
This marked an end of the isolationist policy which had
always been upheld by the United States.
In response to the formation of the NATO, Russia formed
the Warsaw Pact.
WARSAW PACT



The Soviet Union looked at anti-communist actions in Europe
with fear. The USSR created the Warsaw Pact with its satellites
in May 1955.
It included all communist states in Europe except Yugoslavia Soviet Russia, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Rumania,
Czechoslovakia and East Germany.
The Pact spoke of peaceful intentions and defense.
 Members could not participate in any other coalition or
alliance
 Mutual assistance, including armed force.
 To provide for military assistance, a Russian Supreme
Commander was appointed to lead the combined armed
forces of its members.
WARSAW PACT
The Pact allowed the USSR to station troops in
eastern European countries. This meant that
Russia could attack western Europe at any
moment and could suppress any sign of
rebellion in her satellite countries.
 By 1955, both the USSR and the United States
had organized their satellites into opposing
alliances. Political tension between the East
and the West will continue.

IDEOLOGICAL STRUGGLE
Soviet & Eastern
Bloc Nations
[“Iron Curtain”]
GOAL  spread world-wide
Communism
METHODOLOGIES:
US & the
Western
Democracies
GOAL  “Containment” of
Communism & the eventual
collapse of the Communist
world.
 Espionage [KGB vs. CIA]
 Arms Race [nuclear escalation]
 Ideological Competition for the minds and hearts of Third
World peoples [Communist govt. & command economy vs.
democratic govt. & capitalist economy]  “proxy wars”
 Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]
MAP:
Using the map in your textbook, note the
countries that were aligned with the Western
powers and those aligned with the Eastern
powers.
 Two colors: NATO countries and Warsaw Pact
countries
